Starry Heavens Newsletter
June 2020
Aloha Kakou
We hope everyone continues to be well as we begin to plan how to open responsibly to stem the transmission of COVID-19. We miss being able to see you face to face and look forward to the time when we will. As soon as we know when we can resume more normal operations, we will post them on the website so stay tuned.
Please take advantage through June 30, our Free Planetarium Online Show!
The Hōkūlani Imaginarium—in generous partnership with Sky-Skan and The Franklin Institute—is making the internationally awarded space science educational film To Space & Back available online, where every seat in the house is prime viewing! This planetarium show will be available free of charge until the end of June.
There's even an Educator's Guide that you can download in PDF format to accompany the show—a wonderful learning resource especially for our recently expanded homeschool population!
Narrated by James May, To Space & Back takes audiences on an incredible journey from the far reaches of our known universe to our own planet. It is an extraordinary story of human ingenuity and incredible engineering, describing how the technology that transports us through space is paving the way for the devices and apps we use every day. What is happening above is coming back down to Earth!
In the words of Buzz Lightyear …… To Infinity and Back!
 
The next full Moon will be on Friday, June 5, 2020.
The Maine Farmer's Almanac first published Indian names for the full Moons in the 1930's. According to this almanac, the full Moon in June or the last full Moon of Spring is known as the Strawberry Moon, a name universal to just about every Algonquin tribe. The name comes from the relatively short season for harvesting strawberries in northeastern North America.
An old European name for this full Moon is the Mead Moon or the Honey Moon. Mead is a drink created by fermenting honey mixed with water, sometimes with fruits, spices, grains, or hops. Some writings suggest that the time around the Summer solstice at the end of June was when honey was ripe and ready to be harvested from hives or from the wild, which made this the "Honey" Moon.
Europeans also called this the Rose Moon. Some believe this name comes from the color of the full Moon at this time of year. The orbit of the Moon around the Earth is almost in the same plane as the orbit of the Earth around the Sun (only about 5 degrees off). When the Sun appears highest in the sky near the summer solstice, the full Moon opposite the Sun generally appears lowest in the sky. Particularly for Europe's higher latitudes, the full Moon nearest the summer solstice shines through more atmosphere than at other times of the year. This can give the full Moon a reddish or rose color (for much the same reasons that a rising or setting Sun appears red).
The Longest Day – Let the Summer Begin
As spring ends and summer begins, the daily periods of sunlight lengthen to their longest on the solstice, then begin to shorten again. Our 24-hour clock is based on the average length of the solar day throughout the year. Because the actual length of a solar day varies, the earliest sunrises of the year occur just before the summer solstice, the day with the longest period of sunlight, and the latest sunsets of the year occur just after the solstice.
Is the solstice the first day of summer?
No world body has designated an official day to start each new season, and different schools of thought or traditions define the seasons in different ways.
In meteorology, for example, summer begins on June 1. And every school child knows that summer starts when the last school bell of the year rings.
Yet June 21 is perhaps the most widely recognized day upon which summer begins in the Northern Hemisphere and upon which winter begins on the southern half of Earth’s globe. There’s nothing official about it, but it’s such a long-held tradition that we all recognize it to be so.
It has been universal among humans in the Northern Hemisphere for millennia to treasure this time of warmth and light heralded by the Summer Solstice.
Some 5,000 years ago, people placed huge stones in a circle on a broad plain in what’s now known as Stonehenge England and aligned them with the June solstice sunrise.
We may never comprehend the full significance of Stonehenge. But we do know that knowledge of this sort wasn’t limited to just one part of the world. Around the same time Stonehenge was being constructed in England, two great pyramids and then the Sphinx were built on Egyptian sands. If you stood at the Sphinx on the summer solstice and gazed toward the two pyramids, you’d see the sun set exactly between them.
Two shows at the Imaginarium – Stars of the Pharaohs and Ancient Skies would be good choices that expand on this subject. Keep them in mind when we reopen.
 
For more information about Imaginarium shows and events contact:
Manager, Dineene O‘Connor, at 808-235-7350 or dineene@hawaii.edu.
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Our admission prices are:
- $8 General admission
- $7 WCC students, military, seniors (65 years or older), with ID
- $6 Children (ages 4-12 years)
- Free for children under 4 years of age (1 per paying adult), and WCC faculty or staff with university ID
- CASH & CHECK ONLY.
Please pick up and pay for tickets at the Imaginarium Box Office at least 15 minutes prior to showtime.
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As always, we welcome your feedback or questions, feel free to phone (808) 235-7350 or email to dineene@hawaii.edu. If you would like information regarding our Adopt-a-Show sponsorship program please click here.
Dineene O'Connor
Manager, Hōkūlani Imaginarium
Windward Community College
Hale Imiloa 135A
Office (808) 235-7350
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